Hey, this is Trey. Thank you for joining us for a Tuesday edition of our podcast. I try

to make a point of thanking those journalists who at a great risk to themselves and give us the

evidence we need to make informed decisions. I remember trying to do that on a consistent basis

when the war in Ukraine first started. I mean, no offense to opinion writers, a little bit of

offense, I guess, to journalists who try to steer us one way or the other. But for those who risk

their safety and dangers places to bring us the best information so we can make the best decisions,

I am grateful to them. It's a dangerous job and I don't know how you could possibly have an

opinion on something happening in one of the world's hot spots if you don't have access to information.

I just I don't know how you'd make a decision. In fact, I had our guest today on our Sunday show

and I said pretty much just that. Thank you for helping us make decisions based on the right

evidence at great risk to yourself. And then it happened. A car he was traveling in was

struck in Ukraine. Two men were killed. Benjamin Hall was nearly killed. But he was as the

title of the book he wrote says saved. And he joins us now. Benjamin, thank you for being with us.

Try it's great pleasure to be with you today. Why journalism?

You know, I remember as soon as I graduated from college, I just wanted to go out and I wanted to see

the world, meet people, explore, learn things that I hadn't learned before. And for me, journalism was

the way of doing that. I always thought that it would give me a front row seat into history. And

I didn't want my life to pass me by without having seen that. And so within a week of graduating

from college, I took a first flight I could find into Iraq and I just set out trying to tell stories.

I found people fascinating. I think it's you see stories of horror and you see stories of resilience

and stories of courage and you see stories across the board. And so for me, that's what journalism

gave me. And as you work as a journalist for a while, like I wasn't deny that at the beginning,

...